Oil prices settle slightly lower after U.S. jobs report

Benchmark oil dropped 33 cents to finish at $85.93 per barrel in New York Friday, which marked the fourth consecutive day of price declines.

The Associated Press

12/7/2012

The price of oil ended the week lower after the latest U.S. jobs report offered a mixed picture of the economy.

Benchmark oil dropped 33 cents to finish at $85.93 per barrel in New York Friday, which marked the fourth consecutive day of price declines. Oil fell 3.4 percent this week.

The Labor Department said 146,000 jobs were created in November, which was more than economists had anticipated. The unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent from 7.9 percent in October, but that was largely because more people stopped looking for work and weren't counted as unemployed. And job gains for September and October were revised lower.